The Escort
by CharmedPluto
Summary: A Sonic Halo and Star Fox Xover. What happens when a simple mission goes sraight to hell? For Sparatan-M001 Silver its a trip that will take him and Red team beyond the bounds of UNSC controled space. Hiatus until hard copies can be recovered
1. Section 1 Chapter 1

A/N: I don't expect much traffic for this fic but I've been holding onto it since my freshmen year and am now finally going to type it up. The hand-written version is fully written and is 38 chapters. Please be patient with it if you do decided to read it while there's only one or two chapters up. This is one of the longest fics I've ever written. My not-submitted fic Ike and the Masters was I believe 40 chapters but it sucked pretty badly (I wrote it in 7th grade). Anyway thanks for reading and again keep kicking ass and making messes for your enemies (For me it's everyone on the other team in Squad Rush or Team Deathmatch) This is sort of related to one of my other fics but then again isn't at the same time if that makes any sense.

Disclaimer: This crossover involves elements from the Star Fox universe the Halo Universe and the Sonic universe, none of which I own. I only own my OCs Zero Zane and Jake. Fox McCloud Krystal Peppy and all other cannon and non Star Fox Characters belong to Nintendo and their sponsors. Sonic Shadow Silver Blaze Amy Sally and all other Sonic Characters cannon and non belong to Sega and co and all elements of Halo belong to 343 Industries and Microsoft.(If you recall the defiant map pack signaled Bungie's signing over of Halo to them). ENJOY THE SHOW/FIC.

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><p><strong>The Escort Ch 1<strong>

**Section 1: Disaster**

(Eglin Air Force, under UNSC upgrades March 12 2554 1045 hours Zulu time)

The day was perfect, cobalt blue cloudless skies with a very slight breeze coming in from the northeast. Eglin AFB was under upgrades today near by however was Staff Sergeant SPARTAN M001, Silver. He'd just walked outside of his home on base when he was to report to the Old Man. Standing full height he was only four feet tall but when encased in full Mark II MJOLNIR-M armor he was fairly intimidating. Behind him was Corporal SPARTAN-M037, Blaze, she too was in her armor even though regulation didn't require it she just preferred it was all, and Silver felt the same. Without it, he felt as though he was forgetting something. The two headed off towards the command center to receive their next orders. Along the way he wondered about the rest of Red Team, his sharpshooter Corporal SPARTAN-M065, Sonic, his spotter and their medic Private First Class SPARTAN-M058, Sally, his squad leader Master Sergeant SPARTAN-M067 Shadow and his son Private First Class SPARTAN-M055 Zero. Red Team had become an invaluable asset when Mobius was inducted to the UNSC, since they knew the planet so well they allowed Helljumper ODSTs and other special operations units to get the jump on the Covenant. Red Team had participated in the operation to rescue Sierra-117 from a mysterious planet that the UNSC never named. Throughout the course of the Human-Covenant war Silver had never gotten to work with John but from the stories he'd heard from others on base he wish he had. One story was of how he single-handed located and destroyed the Covenant frigate that crashed in New Mombasa in Kenya, Africa that was carrying the deadly parasitic life form the Flood. What the Marine didn't say was that he was actually aided by a few Elites and Thel Vadum, known better as the Arbiter of the Covenant. Blaze must have noticed that her friend and fellow Spartan was in a sort of daze, and set a hand on his shoulder, a gesture that spoke volumes among Spartans.

"C'mon," she said, "We shouldn't keep the Colonel waiting,"

Silver nodded snapping back to the present, he smirked under his helmet which was an MDODST adaption for Spartan MJOLNIR-M, "Race you there,"

He and Blaze dashed off with blinding speed heading towards the command center, they didn't usually drive when they could've run the whole way and gotten there faster too. On the way they passed by a couple of ODSTs that had to double-take to figure out what just sped by them. When they got there he paused to catch his breath, the fact that he'd kept up his pace was a miracle after not having seen action in over a year or so. When he had done so he and Blaze walked in and were surprised to see the whole Red Team here. Shadow and Zero were over on a couch kicking back casually in BDUs while Sonic and Sally, whom were both in service dress, stood next to them just talking. Silver undid the clamps on his helmet, which cause the plates of lightweight alloy along his quills to recede into the helmet shrinking it to the size of a paintball mask. He then pulled it away from his face and clamped it to his waist. Blaze had already taken her helmet off.

"Silver, long time no see, eh?" Sonic said.

He nodded

The group used some of this time to catch up and the other part of it to try to figure out why the whole team was needed in a time of peace.

"Probably another Color Guard," Sally offered

"You've got to be kidding me Sal," Shadow replied, "Zero and I have done like seven in the past two weeks,"

"I'm getting tired of doing them, not that their stupid or anything, it's just not why we were made into Spartans, hooah?" Zero added

"Hooah," they all replied

"I doubt there's a real danger, guys," Silver said, "Think about the last op we did as a team,"

"We disarmed IEDs on Harvest...whoop-d-fucking-do," Shadow grumbled

"I see the Squad Leader's as prickly as ever," Blaze whispered to Silver

"I heard that..."

"Oh c'mon Shadow, lighten up," Sonic told him

Shadow grunted in response

"Spartans," the receptionist called from her desk, "Colonel Keller will see you now,"

"Well..."Shadow said crossing his fingers, "Here's hoping,"

They Spartans filed into the Colonels office, and Shadow as Squad Leader reported to him.

"At ease Spartans," Keller said closing an old fashioned vanilla folder he was reading

Red Team relaxed a bit

"You boys know I don't like wasting time so I'll get right to it, you have a new mission." he said after, "At approximately 1900 Zulu time, Thel and R'tas Vadum arrived in Washington DC, they spent the night at the Whiskey Hotel against our advise about it in being a pretty fucking bad part of town. We've confirmed insurgents in that area and we want you to escort them to a meeting with the President,"

Shadow huffed an annoyed breath

"Something on your mind Master Sergeant?" Keller must've heard him

"Just never have been one for politics, sir,"

"I don't blame you, but these two are priority one for us, they are our direct link to the Sanghelli, a race, need I remind you, that is still on shaky terms with our own,"

"And why did they choose such a bad place to stay when they came to visit us?"

"Don't ask me, I wasn't there for that briefing,"

"Yes sir,"

"Anyway, they had a security force with them but they requested the use of Spartan-Mobian special forces, and we figured who better to send then the squad with a track record that rivals SPARTAN Blue Team,"

Silver hesitated wondering if he should go back to the race thing but finally decided to ask away, "Why us and not Blue Team sir?"

"Because SPARTAN Blue is currently deployed to Threshold for another op, plus they aren't Spartan-Mobians, and that _is_ what they requested, the brass wants this to go as smoothly as possible, if they asked us to dance like fucking circus monkeys I'd have ordered the 105th for this op, but they requested Spartan-Mobians and that's what we're going to give them,"

"So our objective is basically to kiss their asses?"

"More like protect them form anyone that would want to see the Covenant War reignited,"

"And if the insurgents killed them or wounded them for that matter, this war could reignite," Sally commented

"Preciously, and I think they know that too," Keller replied

"Why else would they request a specops unit for overwatch?" Shadow added.

"Alright, you deploy to DC at 1600 hours, keep those VIPs safe or you'll be hearing from the whole human race, dismissed,"

The group filed out of the office after Shadow reported out.

"Finally..." Sonic said, "A decent fucking mission,"

Silver nodded and Shadow grunted in agreement. Deep down though he had that feeling that he got on ops that he knew were going to end up in the shitter. Something didn't sit right how the Colonel describe DC just gave him a grim feeling about this mission and no matter how he thought about it he couldn't shake the feeling that something really bad was about to happen.


	2. Section 1 Chapter 2

**The Escort Section 1 Chapter 2**

(Whiskey Hotel Washington DC slums March 12 2554 1302 hours Zulu Time)

As Red Teams Pelican touched down in the slums of DC, Thel Vadum and R'tas Vadumee both had exited the Whiskey Hotel, which was an eye sore in the run down area, whoever had the idea to build a five-star hotel in the middle of one of the poorest areas of DC must've either been brave or stupid and Master Sergeant Shadow thought he or she was the second. Nevertheless Red-one -two -four and -six were all on the ground while -three and -five were watching from the rooftops. That was Corporal Sonic for you, if there was one thing he loved doing it was being a marksmen, and there was no denying that fact, that was just what he was SPARTAN Blue's sniper Linda was one of his rivals as well as SPARTAN Noble's sniper Jun. Rivalries didn't matter so much when you were on the same team however and with the mission coming first they could set up a marksmanship contest on their own time. Shadow, Staff Sergeant Silver, Corporal Blaze, and Private (E-2) Zero all stepped off of the Pelican and into the streets. They immediately went to work making sure that the VIP's were covered. R'tas seemed like he was in a hurry to meet with the President and Thel seemed to share the feeling. Silver sensed a problem, the gut feeling he'd put off as pre-mission jitters still hadn't gone away, now it was pestering him but he did his best to ignore it. His ear flicked under his helmet and he glanced up to see an aircraft he'd never seen before scream overhead. It vanished behind the White House about ten seconds later. Just because he was special ops didn't mean the brass told him everything especially since he was Army not Air Force.

"Alright form up," Shadow barked jarring the NCO from thought, "Let's get moving,"

Silver flashed his acknowledgment light blue and took up position on the right side of the formation. Zero had point Shadow the left and Blaze covered the rear. The group got moving heading towards the White House.

"Is this whole team really necessary?" R'tas commented

"You asked to see SPARTAN-Ms brother, and here they are," Thel replied

The easily seven foot Elite glanced at four foot tall Shadow and clearly showed his doubt in the SPARTAN-MS ability to perform this mission let alone the suicide missions that all branches of SPARTANS were known for being able to get done. As they continued ahead Private First Class Sally's voice came over the comns.

"Be advised ground team, we're seeing a large group of suspicious characters heading towards your Alpha-Oscar," she reported

"Are they armed?" Shadow replied after closing his output speakers so the VIPs couldn't hear him

"Affirmative, but they don't seem like they'd post too much a threat as long as the VIPs keep their heads down."

"Copy that Sally, we're moving in, Zero watch your motion tracker, Sonic report any movement in the group, I don't want any insurgents sneaking up on us,"

"Rodger that Shadow, good luck down there,"

The ground squad moved ahead and eventually the Sonic and Sally had to displace and move ahead to continue providing over-watch for them.

"Status report," Shadow ordered from his flanking position

"All green," Sonic reported, "It looks like those guys we saw were a paintball team or something, they moved out and headed into the woods away from the city., break,I can see them still though, they're setting up what looks like some kind of base camp,"

"Continue to monitor them Sonic, I don't want any surprises,"

"Copy that, Sally you heard the Boss keep an eye on those kids,"

"Point man report what do you see?"

Zero turned the corner and checked each side of the street before motioning the others to move up silently, "I've got eyes on a suspicious character, second story window left side,"

The group rounded the corner before Shadow replied, "Yeah I see him...he's just watching us,"

"I bet he's scoping us out," Silver commented under his breath."

Increasing his audio sensitivity and perking his ears, the NCO tried to hear what he was saying. The character was an orange furred fox, he was about six-two and was wearing what looked like civilian clothes, but he also had a scouter on his head, the night optics on it made the screen glow green. His voice suggested he was fairly barely out of his forties.

"...eyes on the team we're looking for,"

"Copy that Fox, make sure those VIPs make it no matter but stay hidden. If the Spartans can't handle this, engage the insurgents at your own discretion," he just barely caught from the other end of the comn

"Got it, don't worry about it Falco...and watch what you say to your commanding officer,"

"Whatever..."

Whoever this Falco character was obviously didn't like authority that much, not a trait that any Spartan would exhibit.

"Stand by...I think I see something...OH SHIT!" the vulpine watcher suddenly shouted

Right after that was shouted Silver heard the crack of a sniper rifle. He and everyone else on the ground instinctively ducked.

"CONTACT!" Sonic's voice barked

Zero leveled his BR55HB A1 and opened fire on the rushing insurgents from the front. Shadow and Silver found themselves surrounded by enemies.

"AMBUSH!" Blaze shouted grabbing both VIPs and dragging them to cover in an ally. Silver opened fire on a group directly. Zero's shields exploded off of him, and his leg suddenly sprayed blood. He dropped down and drew an M6 SOCOM Magnum while continuing to engage the threat.

"This is Red Team...we need fire support ASAP!" Shadow barked.

Sonic's SRS 99D S2A2 AM rifle was firing as fast as the bolt could cycle rounds but the insurgents were in too large a group for him to provide very much relief. After his first mag was spent, Sonic and Sally came under fire from the ground.

"Son of a bitch!" Silver cursed as he dove into the same ally where Blaze was.

Shadow dove behind a car and Zero managed to crawl to the safety of another ally near the front of the ambush. Bullets stitched up along the road and ran up Silver's shields like a bunch of angry ants.

"Taking rounds!" he shouted as he ducked back.

Shadow popped out from cover and opened fire on the blitzing terrorists. He ducked back when his mag was spent, "Changing mags!"

Silver peered out and opened fire, scoring three kill shots, he fired the rest of his 32 rounds to pin down a group of terrorists heading towards Zero's position. By the time he'd taken cover to reload he'd heard Zero open fire with his pistol. A sage ball suddenly bounced off of the wall and landed in front of him.

"GRENADE!" he shouted.

Before he could react, he felt himself get shoved aside and just before the grenade detonated he saw Blaze throw herself on top of it. The Spartan's shields burst and there was nothing more to see but a cloud of dust.

"Blaze!" Silver shouted.

When the smoke cleared he dragged her limp body out of the open. His TEAMBIO showed that she'd flat-lined, she wasn't breathing either, her armor had been breached in several different spots. There was no denying what had just happened to Silver's friend, she was dead. Silver could suddenly no longer hear the firefight happening around him, he just couldn't believe she was gone. It took every ounce of training he had to get his mind back on the mission.

"Silver what's your status! Answer me Chaos-damn it!" Shadow barked sounding almost desperate.

"The VIPs are safe," he replied, "Blaze is down...I repeat Blaze is down,"

"That's it, enough of this shit!" Shadow declared, his armor started glowing red and he launch deadly Chaos spears at the insurgents. They detonated like frag grenades killing the remaining enemies and leaving one so scared that he fled for his life.

"Stand down, Red Team, stand down, all contacts neutralized,"

Silver had just barely heard the order over his own raging conscious, it took all his discipline not to shoot the retreating bastard in the back as he fled. He swore and punched a hole through the wall of concrete next to him.

"I am sorry Spartan, your comrade died to save us," R'tas said, "she is a hero, and a braver than any..."

"Save your fucking breath, split-jaw!" he cursed

R'tas let the insult slide, he could practically feel Silver's anger.

"Watch your tongue, Staff Sergeant," Shadow warned, "Remember who you're talking to,"

"I don't fucking care right now!" Silver said.

The way Silver was acting worried Shadow, not once did any Spartan ever burst out like that. He'd seen friends die in combat but none had ever hit home like this, Silver must've really cared for her if he was acting like this.

"We'll take here with us," Shadow said, "She deserves to see this op finished, but so help me if you burst out like that I WILL see you court marshaled for insubordination,"

Through gritted teeth and with tears welling up in his golden eyes he sneered, "Yes sir,"

"We still have a few blocks to go, let's move out Spartans," Shadow ordered helping Zero to his feet. The boy limped at the rear of the formation while Shadow took point. Silver suddenly heard what sounded like the wine of plasma fire.

"Be advised, I think I hear possible Covey fuckers ahead," Silver growled

"Negative Silver," Sonic replied, "I see multiple insurgents engaging a single civilian near the Senate building. Squad Leader, permission to engage and assist?"

"Granted we don't let civilians die, you know what to do,"

Sonic's rifle cracked out loud and they could hear terrorists screaming and falling back.

"White House front entrance clear, go ahead Red Team, we'll see you ground side in sixty,"

"What's the civilian's status?" Shadow asked

"He's alright,"

The group led the two Elite to the White House gate and they were brought in by a group of ODSTs, whom all were shocked at the sight of Blaze. Silver glared at them not that they could tell because of his helmet.

"Mission accomplished," Shadow said, "Good job team,"

"I'll say..." Silver was clearly still pissed.

He glanced back towards the Senate building seeing nothing but destruction and horrible memories he'd like to forget. From behind a destroyed car, he saw the fox he'd seen earlier approaching. He was wearing a green G-suit with fingerless gloves and red tanker boots, it was easy to tell he was a pilot.

"You guys must be SPARTAN-M Red," he said, "It's a pleasure to meet you guys,"

Silver crossed his arms, "And just what the fuck do you want?"

The fox lifted his arms in a sort of calm down gesture, "Cool your jets, bro, I'm not here to cause trouble,"

"Then spill it why the fuck are you here?"

"Her,"-he pointed at Blaze, whom was draped over Shadow's shoulder

"She's gone, what could you possibly use her for?"

"No she isn't, trust me, I've been through this kind of thing before,"

"And I suppose you're going to tell me she exists in my memories and she'd want me to move on? If that's the case then Gulf Foxtrot Yankee!"

"Okay...you obviously need to calm down, now if you truly want her back, talk to me when you aren't so fucking pissed off at the world, he's my card,"-the vulpine handed him a business card then left heading towards the financial district. Silver shook his head and stashed the card in his exposed BDU pocket.

"Evac transport, this is SPARTAN-M Red, requesting evac,"

"Copy that, wheels up in thirty seconds,"

Silver watched for a moment longer until the fox he'd spoken with had left his sight, he knew one fact, this wasn't over, not by a long shot.


	3. Section 1 Chapter 3

**The Escort S1 Ch 3**

(Eglin UNSC United States Gulf Coast military instillation; March 15 2554 1408 hours Zulu Time)

Silver had been sitting around his house doing nothing since the operation in DC. He hadn't even bothered to remove his armor since then unless he went to sleep, and even then he would just remove the boots gauntlets and his helmet. His house was littered with empty beer bottles, he'd been drunk twice in a row in the passed three days and both times he'd passed out on the couch and woken up with such a hangover it wasn't even funny. The boy had officially sworn off alcohol to a single drink to occasions only, he didn't want to turn into a raging alcoholic, it wouldn't be very spartan of him. He stepped into his bathroom after pulling himself off of the couch and looked into the mirror. There were dark circles under his eyes from a lack of sleep as of late, his eyes were blood shot and their golden irises faded down to a dull bronze color, his muzzle had a small beard on it. All in all the once professional looking Staff Sergeant looked more like the average alcoholic just with fancy armor. He sighed. Finally he removed the rest of his armor and grabbed a shower. The water was quick to wake the groggy NCO, whom almost fell asleep under the piping hot spray. After quickly washing his face and shaving, he got out dried off using his telekinetic abilities and pulled on his BDUs. Keller and the Higher-ups hadn't called the Spartans to do anything, they'd been debriefed and Blaze was cremated yesterday, right after that Silver had basically drank himself to sleep. He had her ashes in a box that sat on the desk in the office but only because Shadow had pulled some strings to get them to him seeing as he was practically the only family she had. They'd lived together ever since they entered the program and now that she was gone Silver would be lucky to remember to get up in the morning. He checked his armor, knowing how it worked thanks to some extra training with it. The active-camouflage system had been working just fine and the shielding system needed to be rebooted, it had been acting strange in the passed few days. He then grazed his hand across the business card that fox had given him when Blaze had died. On the card was an insignia he'd never seen before it was a dog that had a pair of semi-angelic wings. Under that were the words "Star Fox" but spelled as one word and the bottom-right corner of the 'X' was extended out to look like a vulpine tail that underlined the whole thing. There was a phone number and an email address. He picked up his cell phone, linked it to his helmet and then secured a line so no one could monitor the call he was about to make, he dialed the number. After a moment or two someone answered.

"Star Fox Team, this is Marcus, how can I help you?" the voice answered.

"Can I speak with James McCloud?" he asked reading the name from the card.

"One moment..."

After a minute of commotion on the other end a new voice answered, "Fox speaking, may I ask whose calling?"

"Are you representing James McCloud?" he asked

"I am James McCloud, call me Fox,"

"This is Staff Sergeant SPARTAN-M001, call me Silver, one of your representatives ran into me while I was on an operation three days ago in DC, and said that if I wanted my dead comrade back I was supposed to call you,"

"That wasn't a representative, Staff Sergeant, that was me personally who gave you that card, have you cooled your jets at all?"

Silver's eyes narrowed not that Fox could see, "I've practically drowned myself in booze for two days straight and I'm finally getting back into my usual routine, but I can't get over that Blaze is dead, you said you could help, so I called you,"

"Alright, give me your email, a personal one not a business one,"

Silver did so and waited a second before Fox replied again, "Check your email,"

Silver opened the site on his HUD and saw a new email from one . The email showed information on a race called the Cerinians and how sometimes people would die and not be truly dead, but if they are left to wander they will pass on and be gone forever. He was skeptical, this was a myth. It was one thing to have hope that Blaze would come back but another thing entirely to believe some kid's story.

"What the fuck am I reading?" he cursed clearly pissed about it, "Cerinian folklore? And these Li-latins?"

"_Lylatians_," James corrected, "and it's not folklore, we've personally brought back three people, one being my wife's brother, he a fellow mercenary,"

"I'm still not buying this,"

"Look Staff Sergeant, you're Mobian right?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Are you or aren't you?"

"Yes, why?"

"You know about Chaos then right?"

"Yeah, what about him?"

"Think of this as a Chaos Revive, I believe one of your Spartans has experienced one before,"

"One problem, we had a whole body then, all that's left of Blaze's body are ashes,"

"It was the same thing with my wife's brother, we had only his ashes and he came back as a full person memories and all,"

"Is he there with you?"

"No he has his own organization called the Cerinian Mambas,"

"So why should I believe you?"

"Do you want her back or not?"

He hesitated, it would've been an honor to die with Blaze in that ally but she saved him and the VIPs. His heart screamed that without her he wasn't any better then the average Joe. He wasn't the same soldier he had once been and his excessive drinking as of late proved it. He needed Blaze by his side to keep him from spiraling into insanity. He knew he was not obsessed with her but he couldn't name this feeling that he felt towards his fellow Spartan, then it hit him.

Love.

He was in love with her, and that's why he was hit especially hard when she died. Though his every instinct screamed at him to put his service first, he knew that wouldn't be enough. Without Blaze, he was empty. Death had cheated him of someone he loved and he wasn't about to take that kind of thing sitting down, he was a Spartan, damn it, they could do the impossible blindfolded. With a new abundance of confidence that he could do this he finally replied.

"Yes,"

"Alright, but here's the deal, you'll need to bring at least two other Spartans with you, meet me in Destin then. If I'm not there just look for the dreadnaught _Great Fox_. You've got three days before I have to leave for the Lylat System. Bring your gear also, we might encounter...complications along the way and shit could get ugly,"

"Then I'll see you tomorrow,"

He hung up. He then opened up the base rosters and looked at the Spartans that were on base. Sally and Sonic were on another drug bust operation in Rio De Janaro in Brazil, they would be gone for a couple of days so he couldn't ask them. He pulled up SPARTAN Blue team. John Fred Linda and Kelly were on an operation in Berlin, something about possible terrorist plots so they were out of the question. He didn't want to do this but he opened up Zero and Shadow's status. The father and son weren't assigned for anything but to remain on base and be ready to deploy. Shadow had actually asked for some leave. He closed the roster and picked his phone up again this time dialing Shadow's number.

"Hello?" Shadow answered after a moment

"Squad leader, its Silver, do you have a minute?" he asked

"What's up?"

"I...well do you remember that fox we saved...er actually the one that Sonic saved..."

"Yeah I know you were talking to him after the ambush. Silver are you drunk _again_?"

"No sir, I asked him what he meant when he asked if I wanted to get Blaze back,"

"What an ass! He did that? He shouldn't be jerking your chain like that, he has no right!"

"No listen, he said he has a way to bring her back using an older form of Chaos Revive,"

"You mean like when Mephiles killed Sonic right?"-Shadow scoffed, "A more ancient version of a technique that you _guessed _would work then is no better off than your guess back then."

"I'm not telling you this so you can just slam this, I see a chance to get her back, and by Chaos I'm taking it,"

"You got emotionally attached to her, this is the price you pay for it!"

"What do you think Amy would say to shit like that?"

There was silence on the other end.

"That's in the past, you'd better watch your tone with me Staff Sergeant,"

"Don't you have her remains?"

"What the hell's it matter?"

"Maybe I can work out a deal to bring her back too,"

"Blaze was right...you are more naive than a six-year-old,"

"She was joking about that,"

"I know, I know. So what's the plan?"

"I'm meeting Fox in Destin tomorrow, bring your gear, he said this could be dangerous,"

"Alright; Zero, change of plans we're going to Destin for something...important,"

Shadow paused and then added, "Do you need an extra man for this one?"

"The more the merrier,"

"Count him in we'll see you tomorrow,"

"Meet at the Docking Bay in Destin, if Fox isn't there we're to look for the ship _Great Fox._"

"Got it, see you then,"

Shadow hung up.

Silver pulled up the roster on his HUD, "Max, I need you to make some false orders,"

"Performing another black op are we?"

"For once,"

"Does it matter who the orders are from?"

"No,"

"And the recipient?"

"Colonel Keller, Eglin UNSC Gulf Coast instillation commander,"

"What are they to say?"

"Master Sergeant SPARTAN-M065 and Private First Class SPARTAN-M055 have been reassigned under whoever's command, they will be running operations for whatever base they belong to,"

"Order's encrypted and...order away, Master Sergeant Shadow and Private Zero officially belong to Lieutenant Colonel Jeffers on UNSC Mars instillation, you're under the cloak again Staff Sergeant,"

"Good,"

Silver then went to make sure everything was ready for tomorrow. Before closing the rosters he moved Corporal SPARTAN-M017 under MIA. This was a very impossible mission as he saw it and that was right up his ally, Spartans were designed for the impossible.


	4. Section 2 Chapter 4

**The Escort: S2 Ch 4**

**Section 2: Hope**

(Destin space port US Gulf Coast; March 16 2554 1104 hours Zulu time)

"What's taking him so long," Falco muttered clearly irritated. Fox could sense he was only that way because he had never worked with a Spartan before, of course Fox hadn't either. The closest he'd come to that was being aided by one of their snipers and feeling the whip that was Staff Sergeant Silver's tongue. Since Blaze died four days ago, the NCO had been a complete wreck. Fox's notion was to help him but at the same time fulfill his real mission. General Hare had wanted him to "do a little recon" on Spartans and see how they operate then he was to eliminate a few Apariod colonies that had survived the self-destruct program in Lylat space. So far, all he had concluded was that they trained from a very young age, probably ages four to six, in everything military. How to fight hand-to-hand, with and without their weapons. If he had the choice of fighting a fighting Andross or the Apariod Queen without a ship versus Spartan, he'd have chosen the latter. From what he'd seen in UNSC controlled space, the Spartans were the best of the best of the best, no questions asked. If a Spartan told you to jump, you'd say "how high?" without even hesitating, don't even bother looking at their rank, odds are they're already a mid-grade officer anyway.

"He'll be here," James said his tail lashing side-to-side giving away his own impatiences.

"He'd better hurry the hell up, we have a deadline to meet,"

"I know, we've got until May to destroy those colonies, but if these Spartans are coming with us, we'll have a bit more flexibility as far as finishing this mission goes,"

"So you promised one of the most deadly soldiers in the universe you'd save his dead girlfriend if he was to..."

Fox motioned him to shut up as he spotted a UNSC M12 Warthog LRV with the machine gun removed pull up, in the driver seat, were not one but _three _SPARATAN-Ms all three were armed to the teeth with the most advanced equipment that they could get standard issue. Knowing how innovative a Spartan could be, he guessed that some of their gear wasn't standard issue by any means.

Silver approached, noting the lack of rank on both Fox's and his friend's uniforms. He guessed they were pilots.

"Aw great," Zero muttered under his breath, "We're helping the Chair Force,"

"Look again, Zero," Shadow said, "When last I looked, our boys wear blue uniforms and dark sage flight suits, his is black,"-he motioned to the avian, "and his is complete with a bullet proof vest,"-he motioned to the vulpine, "they aren't Air Force,"

"Does it really matter? You know as well as I do how useless pilots can be once they get shot down,"

"I don't like this Staff Sergeant,"

"I trust them, besides, they want to help both of us,"

"Yeah tell that to my coffin if I die on this one," Zero said.

Silver headed towards them as the bay to the ship behind Fox hissed open and another vulpine exited the ship, he had a blue coat, and a scar on his left eye. He looked to be no older than the NCO himself.

"So mom was right," he said, "We are being joined by Spartans for the remainder of the mission,"

Silver caught that comment thanks to his hyper-sensitive hearing.

"This isn't the best time to discuss the details," Fox quickly said, "let's get you aboard,"

Silver and the others followed Fox aboard the ship and the bay doors closed behind them.

"So are these guys your co-workers?" Silver dared to ask

"Falco is,"-Fox hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the avian in black to his left, he then set a hand on the younger vulpine's shoulder, "this little bundle of joy is actually my son,"

"I was a bundle when I was two dad," he defended, "My name is Marcus, I'm probably the equal to a Squadron Commander on this ship,"

Fox gave and amused sigh, "Well let's get you guys the grand tour,"

"Before we do," Shadow said, "Who do you work for?"

"No one of consequence,"

Silver could tell by Shadow's lack of reply that he didn't like that answer.

"We're Mercenaries," Falco said, "though we mostly help the UNSC from the sidelines,"

_Well that's just perfect_ Silver thought thinking of how easily he'd come to trusting Fox and his crew.

"So I assume Marcus' mother works elsewhere?" Zero said

"No my mom's somewhere aboard, I'm not sure where though,"

Zero didn't reply.

Silver felt a tingle in the back of his skull, he'd know that feeling anywhere, someone was probing his mind, he put up a block, and noted that Marcus growled, his tail flick as he tried to control his frustration.

"Nice try kid," Silver said, "But you can't probe me with low-level methods like that,"

"How did you know it was me that probed you?" Marcus asked.

"Three reasons: one you're tail lashed involuntarily when you failed to get into my mind; two I traced where the link came from and three, the most obvious, you asked,"

Marcus felt his cheeks burning and turned his gaze forward.

"I'm guessing you haven't gotten this far yet," Silver added levitating about an inch off of the ground.

"You've gotten there already? How old are you?"

"Twenty-three,"

"My uncle is almost forty and he can't even do that,"

After their little tour of the _Great Fox, _Silver and the others got acquainted with the crew quarters. This ship was nothing like the UNSC Navy's ships, the crew 'quarters' was a wholly inappropriate term to describe this essentially space-bound apartment complex. Silver had his own room as well as Shadow and Zero. Shadow had warned them not to get used to this, as soon as this op was over it would be back to cramped quarters on board real UNSC vessels. A moment later, right after Silver had set up his armor's maintenance station and removed the gear he was currently wearing favoring his BDUs, the intercom called for all crew to report to the bridge. He made sure that the shielding system wouldn't screw up like it had during the Harvest op, when he and the Reds defused IEDs for all of a week. One happened to explode and damage the system, he told himself that he was lucky he had the thing contained in a telekinetic bubble while he was defusing it. So instead of killing him it breached his shields and armor and left a nice little scar on his forehead just above his right eye. Once it checked out his headed to the bridge, remembering the way already.

When the doors hissed open he saw that Fox, Falco, Marcus, a pink furred cat whom he didn't recognize and a blue furred vixen whom he assumed was Marcus' mother. Shadow and Zero hadn't arrived yet.

He saluted, "Staff Sergeant Silver reporting as ordered," he wasn't really sure who the commanding officer was so he directed the report at Fox. Fox returned the salute and said, "Wait there for a moment,"

Silver dropped his salute and clasped his hands behind the small of his back. By the time that Fox had jumped from one station to the next Shadow and Zero arrived.

"Welcome aboard Red team," Fox said, "We've met you so now I'd like to introduce my crew,"

"This is Krystal," he motioned to the blue vixen manning the Comns station, without looking up she waved at them.

"At least one person is committed to their job here," Zero commented

Shadow glared at him, Silver had just now noticed that none of the Spartans were in their armor, instead they were all in BDUs.

Fox obviously hadn't heard and went on, "Her telepathic abilities make her an expert at communications,"-Fox then motioned to the feline manning the next station, "This is Catherine Monroe, we call her Katt, she's Chief of Operations, anything we do under my orders she documents and tracks,"

"And I'm also a pilot," she added, "just a heads up,"

"You've already met my son Marcus, he's our navigator, and Falco, well he get what he call the 'fun job' as he puts it, he operates our weapons systems,"

"Do you run ground operations?" Shadow asked.

"Sometimes," Marcus answered, "we mostly stick to the skies though,"

"I assume you all have some kind of training when it comes to that kind of op?"

"Everyone here save Krystal has been through basic training, I won't tell her story since she doesn't like me telling it,"

"It's not my fault you screw it up every time you tell it," Krystal added clearly just messing with him.

"Well when you've gone through what I have..."-he paused then turned back to the Spartans, "we're departing for the Lylat System shortly, I assume you guys have everything ready to go?"

"Spartans are always prepared, sir," Silver spoke up.

"Good then relax for a bit, I'll alert you when we get in-system,"

The Spartans left the bridge heading back to the crew quarters, Silver flopped onto his bunk after leaving the others in the hallway, the whole time he hoped this long shot was all worth it.


	5. Section 2 Chapter 5

**The Escort Section 2 Ch 5**

(Interstellar Slipstream Space, March 13, 2554. Approximately 1500 hours (Zulu time) Aboard Lylatian Alliance Freelancer dreadnaught _Great Fox_)

It had been about three minutes since the _Great Fox _had departed from Earth, on a course that Silver didn't know, nor cared about really. In the few minutes he'd been there, he'd set himself up as if he'd just moved in. His armor sat assembled on a dummy on one end of the room, closest to what he considered the biggest luxury any space fairing vehicle could have; the view port. Blaze's armor he'd set in its respective place next to his. He wore his BDUs at the moment and was currently in the bathroom, which he again considered a luxury, staring at himself in the foggy mirror, having just dressed from a shower not sixty seconds ago. The image he saw was the same as always, his white quills that poked up at near crazy lengths, like peacock feathers. The others had always poked fun at him, and he'd laugh along with them, knowing it was all in good warmhearted humor. The white quills at one point he'd sworn were a different color, but that he could never be certain of, for as long as he could remember, they'd been ivory white. He sighed, it's a wonder the others sometimes called him 'Old Hedgehog'. His eyes were the next thing his attention called out. They were golden, and probably at some point in his life, maybe before he was six, full of innocence and purity, which a normal child would have. His were glazed over with a layer of maturity and guilt for what he'd done before the Covenant War. Whatever innocence used to be in those golden eyes were now gone, replaced but sadness and a harsh gaze that demanded respect. The skin on his face was pale like a ghost, and he knew why. It was all of the time he spent in his armor and on the ground or in cryo. Getting a tan at the beach, was a luxury he could seldom afford. Most of his leave time was spent at a hotel room near a beach, but rather than actually go, he spent the given leave either eating or sleeping. It was truly rare to see a Spartan legitimately on a vacation. The last 'vacation' he got was about a month ago, when he took the month off and stayed at one of the hotels near Eglin. The majority of that time was spent in bed and filled with lucid dream in which he may as well have been at work. The rest was either having a drink at the hotel bar or going out for food. The scar on his cheek was the next thing he noticed. It was a cruel reminder that the enemy can literally be anywhere. He received the battle mark from the reverse end of a Brute Gravity Hammer when the brute had managed to nick him in the head. He lost his original helmet to the brute but he'd counted his blessings that it was only the helmet and not his head. While staring at this reflection of himself and looking deep within himself, he squinted. In the steam of that bathroom, he saw her. Blaze stood behind him in her service dress uniform with all of her medals and ribbons splattered like a coat of paint on her left breast. The most notable awards she had was her Leadership Excellence ribbon, which was only awarded to the top 10% of the cadets in basic training. There was also a golden star on it, signaling with merit. The next thing that stuck out was the Daughters of the American Revolution medal, awarded only once every year to one cadet in the entire corps. He was struck so dumb founded that he couldn't help but whip around and see if she was actually standing there.

There was nothing but mist.

He turned back around facing himself in the mirror, where only his reflection stood alone.

"You're hallucinating," he said, his hands gripped tightly around his quills, "Get a hold of yourself!"

His tone was so firm like an order, he almost expected that his reflection would snap to and reply.

It didn't.

Sighing, he left his room heading to the observation deck. In the hall he noted Krystal heading back to the bridge with a bunch of paper's in her arms, she simply nodded at the Spartan but otherwise ignored him altogether. He continued on his way and arrived to find that he wasn't the only one here. Shadow, Zero, Fox, and Falco, all sat at a table playing cards. The NCO sat away from them. It was very uncustomary for a Spartan to want to be left alone, but Silver had always seemed to be an exception to that rule and really rules in general. Lieutenant Commander Ambrose and Colonel Ackerson almost didn't pick him to be a Spartan due to his odd fur coloring, but when they really broke it down, what Mobian didn't have a fur or hair color that wasn't what the brass had dubbed 'unnatural'. The rest of his life is what he looked at. During Tech School he acted as a hero around his 'home town' if one could call a city where everyone thinks you're a freak of nature that shouldn't exist. When it came down to it, that was practically all the Spartan-Ms were viewed as: just freaks that only knew how to kill, and they were really good at it. With them around, no one posed a threat to anywhere they lived and the surrounding few hundred miles. It wasn't until humanity and the UNSC started _really _losing the war that their help was enlisted upon, but by then Ambrose was dead, Ackerson was in prison under suspicion of treason and a majority of the Spartan III were deployed all across the galaxy.

"BS!" a voice shouted.

Silver nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden exclamation. The NCO turned to see Fox picking up a large pile of cards, cursing as he did. Shadow played a card face-down.

"BS," Fox said very nonchalantly, "Pick it up."

And Shadow did just that with a shrug.

On Falco's turn, Fox said, "Don't even bother."

The avian set the cards on the table, and slid them across the table with a sly smirk on his face, "Enjoy."

Fox grumbled a bit picking up the cards and adding them to his what may as well have been another deck entirely.

"Two sixes," Zero said placing two cards.

The Captain shuffled through his enormous hand and set three on top of Zero's two, "Three sevens."

Silver looked away, trying to sink back into his thoughts while their game continued, though now he was unsure what to think of. It was a few minute later that the NCO's attention returned to the game table. The cards were in a deck and Shadow was leaning back in his chair, unusually relaxed while Falco was fuming.

"You've got a lot of nerve calling an ace like me no good on the ground." he said.

"I didn't say that," he pointed out.

Whatever he'd said, Silver could only guess it had to do with a pilot in a ground combat situation, which Silver had learned from experience was never a good thing.

"Yeah you did, you said 'A pilot on a ground op is like a sniper rifle with no ammo; next to worthless,"

"You see," Shadow defended, though his attitude suggested he could've cared less, "The 'next to' part is where the gray area is, I believe all pilots fall somewhere within that gray area."

"You want some of me tough guy? I'll whip your ass in a ground op any day of the week."

Shadow arced an eye ridge, "Is that a challenge?"

Silver was now listening fully, this should be interesting.

"Any time anywhere," Falco proclaimed.

That's about when Fox chimed in, "How about here and now?"

That caught all the Spartan's interest, especially Shadow's.

"We've got a training area, you two could have a one-on-one shoot out."

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Please, the three of use would be more than sufficient to completely take this ship, turn it around and go home if we wanted to."

"I wouldn't doubt it, Shadow," Fox commented glancing at his ace pilot, "But I think Falco's challenge still stands."

The black hedgehog nodded, "Very well," (he turned to face Falco) "I'll humor you and show you what a Spartan is truly capable of."

Silver smirked; this would be good. Rumor of the Spartan-Ms being no good as compared to the Spartan III or their predecessors were always circulating around and the members of Spartan-M Red loved to prove them wrong.

(Interstellar Slipstream space Aboard Lylatian Alliance Dreadnaught _Great Fox _fifteen minutes later.)

Shadow had all of his gear ready now. His weapons were both loaded and ready to fire stun rounds, since he saw no reason to go full lethal on his opponent. He was heading to deck C-17 as was instructed by Fox fifteen minutes ago. He'd polished the plating on his armor before putting it on so his armor looked as though it was fresh out of the factory: it was the nicks and scratches that he couldn't get rid of that told another story though. He had his helmet off and attached to his waist waiting in the hallway for the others. He'd only ever been challenged by a non-Spartan one time prior to this, and that guy posted a minimal, if any, threat. The guy was some hot shot fresh out of basic and he felt as though he were on top of the world when he challenged Shadow. Not only did Shadow have a Spartan's training on him, he also had the Chaos Mobian in him as well; the kid had been lucky to make it out of that simulation in one piece. He was roused from memory when he saw the rest of the group approaching. He slung his rifle over his back and offered Falco a hand shake.

"May the best soldier win." he said in a very sportsman-like way

Falco glared and shoved passed him clearly not in a mood to be sportsman-like. The Spartan shrugged his shoulders and followed Falco into the simulation room donning his helmet. The metal plates unfolded and formed over his head perfectly. The HUD booted up in a matter of seconds and registered all other active Spartans that were in the surrounding area. Though Shadow knew his subordinates were here, just above him in an observation deck, his armor registered that he was alone.

"Shadow," a voice said over the intercom, "Step onto the red platform."

The Master Sergeant looked around and saw a piece of floor rise up about a foot and glow red. He stepped onto it and waited.

"Scanning," the voice said, it sounded like Fox's voice so Shadow assumed that it was such.

"Full profile constructed," an AI said.

"Alright then, I tossed a coin earlier and Falco won," Fox said, "You pick the stage."

Shadow's eye ridge arced a bit, _Stage? What kind of simulation uses stage generators?_

"Do Fortuna Jungle," Falco said from a platform across from the NCO that was glowing blue. The distance between them was maybe a football field at the most. Shadow could've hit Falco five times before he ever moved, but he was on their turf so he'd play by their rules.

The white room suddenly shifted. The ceiling glowed bright blue and even came with it's own 'sun' if one wished to call an enormous orb of light that wasn't radiating UV-A or UV-B rays such a thing. He saw trees sprout up from the floor and shoot up into the sky, full grown in a matter of seconds. Shrubbery and undergrowth filled in replacing the tiles of white beneath his feet. Most simulations he was used to weren't this advanced. He welcomed the challenge of trying to get used to it all. Near his position he watched as a huge Redwood tree shot into the air, its lower branches looked easy enough to climb. He made note to head that way.

"Fortuna Jungle replicated, simulation starting in T minus thirty seconds," the AI said.

Shadow saw a huge clock on a wall of solid granite that hadn't conformed to the forced transformation, but he had a feeling that once those big red numbers his 0:00 it would, like the platform he was currently standing on.

"Before we get started though," Fox said causing the clock to stop at 0:18

Shadow looked up from his stare at the huge Redwood. He couldn't see Falco anymore but he figured he was out there.

"Since Falco chose the stage, Shadow will choose whether there are extra enemies."

Though Shadow couldn't hear Falco from where he was, he would've bet a years worth of deployments that he was raging right now.

"Sure," Shadow said smirking.

"Okay, a max of five extra enemies can be used on this map, how many would you like?"

"Three,"

There was a moment of silence before Fox's voice said, "Got it," and the clock resumed it's count down.

He heard a mechanical whirring noise as three platforms rose up and three human looking bots appeared on each of them. They were red.

"A team I'm guessing?"

"These are your allies," Fox stated, "Falco will have three that are blue. The object is to either neutralize all of your opponents or to capture the enemy's flag."

Shadow grinned under his helmet, this would be a cake walk. Most simulations he had run were strictly eliminate the enemy, an alternative play style would bring back some excitement that sims used to have. He glanced at the play clock 0:09

"Alright, you three form up and follow me when this starts," he barked to his three bots.

No real acknowledgment came until the play clock hit 0:00 and the simulation had started. Shadow's platform lowered and settled into the dirt, immediately blending into the terrain as if it were never there. The bots did as the hedgehog had ordered and formed up behind him.

"Follow me, stay quiet, and watch your sectors." he instructed and started on a direct course for the Redwood.

"The Red Flag is located here." one of the bots whispered over his comns. A flashing red dot appeared on his display, right on the Redwood. Perfect; that's where he would've put the flag himself.

"Rodger that," Shadow said and continued forward.

The road was choked with undergrowth that the Spartan remembered to step lightly over. His allies however were a bit more noisy.

"Take your time with the steps guys." he muttered, "You're as loud as a pack of Brutes."

The bots lightened up their steps, though the Spartan could still hear them, but it was faint enough to blend in with the surroundings. When they'd reached the Redwood Shadow halted the group about ten feet from the edge a clearing that stood between them and the tree.

"One, check the right," he said motioning to do so.

Bot 1 peered out of the growth and a few seconds passed, "Clear."

Shadow was already sweeping the left so he could see they were good to cross.

"Two, Three cross now, as fast as you can, but keep it quiet." he whispered.

Bots 2 and 3 sprinted across the clearing towards the tree and took cover near the base of the tree.

"One," he ordered, "Go ahead and cross, I'll cover the rear,"

1 nodded its head and sprinted to join the other two. Shadow himself was last across making sure to get there as fast as possible. The marker for the flag was now over their heads.

"Two, what do you know about this map?"

2 was quiet for a moment, "Fortuna Jungle contains two major land marks, the Grand Tree, where our current location is and Rampart Falls, approximately two hundred meters from here to the northeast. Rampart Falls is the blue team's base of operations and where their flag is kept. The red team's flag is on the alcove thirty meters up the trunk of the Grand Tree and our current base of operations."

"Got it. Three, what weapons do you and your kind come equipped with?"

3's response was somewhat brief, "We come equipped with a standard issue laser rifle set on stun. Number 1 has the sniper variant, Number 2 has the assault rifle variant and I have the shotgun variant."

Shadow nodded, "Alright, One and Three are on guard duty. Three I want you both by the flag, spot targets for One and watch his back."

The two bots immediately started climbing the tree towards the flag.

"Two, you're with me, we're going to go steal the enemies flag."

2 fell in behind him.

"Two, mark Rampart Falls."

An icon appeared on Shadow's HUD and the two got moving. It was about now that Shadow remembered the specs on his armor. The Sanghelli's light bending technology was built into his armor systems along with the shielding systems that had kept him on his feet on multiple occasions, though he learned not to rely on them. The passed through forest until they came to a river bed. Shadow halted and motioned 2 to stop as well.

"Let's stay in the woods and follow this river." he said motioning to the northeast.

They got moving again. It wasn't more than a few minutes later that Shadow heard the report of a sniper weapon. He ducked and motioned 2 to drop down.

"Blue team member number three is down." He heard 1 report.

The Senior NCO stood and motioned for 2 to follow him. They kept moving until they arrived at the falls. The only way up was through the two guards. Shadow frowned, Falco wasn't as dumb as he thought, which made this all the more difficult. This was also taking into account that one of their teammates had made it to their base two minutes prior to he and 2 arriving.

"Two," he said, "Go back about twenty meters and cross the river as quietly as you can, take cover in those bushes and get ready to take that guard out." (he motioned to the bush and then two the blue bot that was across from him on the opposite end of the falls.)

Two nodded and fell back quietly. Shadow then had to perform something that almost no Spartan liked doing: waiting.

Five minutes may as well have been five days as he finally saw 2 in the bush across the river.

"Take aim at the guard and let me know when you're ready, we'll have to take them out at the same time."

2 steadied its rifle and it was a few minutes before the bot contacted him.

"On my mark." Shadow said, "Three, two, one, mark."

Two rounds fired off and both of Falco's teammates dropped like flies. It took Shadow by surprise that the bots went down after being hit with a stun round, but he counted his blessings and moved up while he had the opportunity.

"Alright Two, let's move up, meet at the top of the hill." Shadow said via comns.

The two were moving like shadows in the night even though it was broad day light. When they met up, Shadow motioned to move slowly towards the objective, which they'd marked with a flag shaped icon. A bolt of plasma slashed passed him and he ducked down.

"SNIPER!" he shouted.

2 didn't even have time to duck and dropped into a sort of standby mode.

"Scratch that..." he said to himself as he lay still, "two snipers."

The Senior NCO smirked and slowly backed away activating his camouflage. He then stood and sprinted back towards the top of the falls where the flag was. As he got closer, well within range of the two snipers, he saw that there was actually only one and that was Falco. He'd only ever seen a sniper fire that fast when Sonic was the shooter, either the rifle he was using had a very fast bolt or he was just that good. He put his money on the previous seeing as the latter seemed like giving him too much credit. Shadow slunk around in the shadows though his camouflage would've allowed him to walk in the open. He still knew not to rely on the tech, knowing what Lieutenant Commander Ambrose had said about tech. "Machines break; eyes don't,"

He'd taken those words to heart as he had all of the officer's lessons. He was close now. The hedgehog could see Falco now, practically in the open. He could've taken him out, but he saw no reason to so he let him be and headed further behind him to the flag. It was nothing more than a little blue ribbon tied to a bush. He untied it as quietly as possible, stopping only when he'd brushed some leaves that started to rustle prompting Falco to turn around but see nothing. Shadow untied the ribbon and ducked back into the bushes starting to head back to the Redwood. This had been way too easy, even accounting for any surprises he thought he'd encounter Shadow managed this mission with only one shot fired. When he was at the base of the waterfall he slipped back into the forest following the river back to base. He deactivated his camouflage system and sprinted as fast as he could, forgoing stealth knowing that the Falco was the only one left and he was guarding a flag he didn't even realize had been stolen. When he'd gotten back, 1 and 3 were still posted up by the flag, both looking about as bored as a robot for simulations could be.

"Victory!" Fox's voice shouted, "Red team wins!"

"Simulation terminated," The AI said.

The Fortuna Jungle began to recede into the floors of the ship, leaving only Falco and Shadow in the room, one with a look of shock on his face and the other holding a ribbon above his head and waving it a little.

"Good game," Shadow said dropping the ribbon and offering his opponent a hand shake.

Falco rose from his prone position and shook the NCO's hand, "Yeah, good game."


	6. Section 2 Chapter 6

**The Escort**

**Section 2 Ch 6**

"Like I said," Silver spoke as he and the rest of the gang were on the observation deck. Shadow was sitting back in the same chair he'd been in before his little fight with Falco. The avian in question was across from the Senior NCO, not really brooding, but just kind of looking at the hedgehog as if he'd earned something.

"The Spartans are the greatest fighting force the universe has ever seen." he went on, "And the Spartan-Ms are no different."

"Hypothetically speaking," Falco chimed in, "What could beat a Spartan?"

"Well, not to brag or anything," Shadow said, "But it would take an awful lot to kill one of us."

"I meant Spartans in general."

That's when Zero joined in, "It really doesn't take all the much. Just like any soldier in the field, one slip up and you're dead."

The blue bird nodded.

"Okay, another hypothetical question," Fox said, "Say that you guys were on...I don't know, let's use Earth since I've been there. Say you guys were on Earth, in some major city, and suddenly a fleet of Lylatian ships invaded, which would never happen by the way, how would the Spartans react."

"Truth be told," Silver said, "We really wouldn't."

Fox arced an eye ridge at that, "Come again?"

"He means we'd wait for orders from the top," Shadow explained, "We don't move unless ordered to. Until of course the situation becomes...dire."

"Dire?"

The ebony hedgehog nodded.

"What would be considered a 'dire situation' for Spartans?"

"The scenario you described seems to be one." Zero said, "The odds that in a war against your kind you push us all the way back to Earth are slim at best."

"That's in spite that we have a tech advantage on you?" said a new voice.

The guys looked up to see Krystal standing in the doorway, her arms folded over her chest. She looked almost like she was in no mood to be speaking with Spartans.

Shadow was next to speak, "I wouldn't call laser weapons and VR sims a real 'advantage' per say."

"What would you consider an advantage?" she asked.

The three Spartans dropped into thought and it was quiet for a moment.

"Higher ground would be one." Zero said, "Fighting up-hill is always harder than down-hill. Take Joshua Chamberlain, for instance, at the battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War thousands of years ago. Chamberlain and his 80,000 men had the high ground and fought off four charges from the Confederate Army. How? Because they had the high ground. That and they were ordered to not to leave that hill so..."

"You pulled that example out of the air." Silver commented.

"You're telling me you forgot American History during basic?"

The NCO shook his head.

"Air support would be another," Shadow added, "Take a bunch of guys on the ground and suddenly enemy fighters are overhead...yeah shit hits the fan real fast about then."

"Like what happened to Beta Company?"

He nodded, "I knew those guys too."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did, I knew Adam and Min. They both died in the factory..."

"Ah."

"Anyway, the big thing there was the Covenant ruled the air. Heavy casualties on both sides, but what can you expect when you're up against some 300 Spartan IIIs?"

Krystal shrugged.

The ship slowed suddenly, causing a pit to form in Silver's stomach. Why was the ship stopping?

"Well," Krystal chimed in breaking the sudden silence, "I originally came to say we were about to arrive in Lylat in roughly five minutes, but your conversation managed to kill those five minutes."

The men stood, some stretching, and they walked off the deck.

"Dad," Marcus' voice said via the intercoms, "I'm sending in our report, General Pepper wants to talk to you."

"Gotcha," Fox said, "Patch him through and I'll be up in a minute."

"Rodger that."

Fox headed up to the bridge, Krystal following him while the Spartans headed presumably to the crew quarters.

Once on deck, Fox sat in his chair and clicked a few commands into his console. A holoprojection of General Pepper appeared on the display before him.

"Welcome home Star Fox." The General greeted.

"Good to be back sir." Fox replied.

The old hound usually never fooled around with small talk when he was working and got right to business, "So I assume your mission was successful?"

The vulpine nodded, "Yes sir, much more so than we thought it would be."

"Oh? Then you retrieved the intel?"

"Even better sir."

The hound's eye ridge arced up, "What could you have found that's better than three hundred million credits worth of information?"

"I'll show you." (He turned to Marcus) "Bring Silver and his team up here."

The blue vulpine nodded and keyed the intercom, "Red team, please report to the bridge,"

"'Red Team'?" Pepper echoed, "What have you got up your sleeve James Junior?"

"You'll see sir, and I'm sure you'll be very impressed.

The Spartans arrived on the bridge a moment later, all three were dressed in their armor, and it shined like it exuded sunlight. General Pepper saw three different coloration types, one was gray on gold, another black on maroon and the last black on white. It was the one clad in gray that recognized the insignia of grade on Pepper's uniform that cause a commotion of very slight movements.

"Ten hut!" he barked.

The three were now at a ridged attention, and General Pepper was indeed impressed, "Carry on,"

The Spartans relaxed.

"Well, General," Fox asked, "Are you impressed?"

"Very actually, and you know it takes a lot to do that. Who might they be?"

"They are fourth generation Spartan-Ms, each has the versatility of a Spartan-III, the core toughness stamina and strength of a Spartan-II and the resolve and tech of a Spartan IV as well as their own advantages."

"Jacks of all trades if the term fits."

"Indeed sir," Silver commented.

"So you have what you need for the other three missions I've assigned to your team?"

"We need a small resupply," Fox said, "A few of my Arwings were a little bit jacked up from the Apariods in the outer rim."

"Very well. A supply vessel will meet you before you depart to Kew Marit and Zeta."

"Thank you sir."

"Payment for this mission has been transferred to your account. Keep up the good work."

"Will do, _Great Fox _out."

Under his helmet, Silver was fuming. If he so much as coughed, steam would've exploded out of every port on his helmet. Shadow seemed a tad lost while Zero just plain didn't give a crap.

"You lying son of a bitch!" Silver spat when the channel closed, "Everything you told me back on Earth was..."

"100% true." Marcus butted in, "We've done this before actually."

"Then why the hell are we going on missions you can solve later?"

"Trust me, this was the only shot we had at getting the intel, but when I saw Spartans in action, I realized, this would triple...no exponentially increase our odds of winning against the Aparoids."

Shadow chimed in, patting Silver on the shoulder and motioning for him to calm down, "And those are...?"

"They're a race of machines that have only one purpose: kill, reproduce, infect and kill some more." Krystal said from her station.

"So wait a second," Zero said, "You mean they can take over other machines?"

She nodded, "And people through indoctrination."

The though of a driverless Scorpion tank swiveling over to him and firing with intent to kill made Shadow shiver. They reminded him of the Flood.

"And these things have just been running rampant?" Silver asked somewhat regaining his composure.

"Not really," Marcus stated, "Dad and his team effectively killed off the entire race a long time ago. The only ones that aren't dead yet are the ones that his old Chief's self-destruct program didn't hit."

"Where to? We're here so we may as well help out." Shadow said

"We head to Kew, it's a sort of back water planet, for mostly bounty hunters and mercenaries."

"I will warn the population out there has never seen anything like you guys out there so we've got to keep this quiet." Fox said, "I'd rather not have the locals wondering where you three came from."

Krystal had already pulled up the target area on the holoport, "The primary target is here," (a small area appeared on a planet that wasn't much larger than Mars) "Twin Forks Favela. It's a slum that's home to about 500 or so people...or at least it was before the Apariods showed up."

"Any survivors?" Zero asked.

"None that we know of."

"Do you have a map of the area?"

Krystal pulled one up on the display, "I'll upload it to you guys."

A task bar appeared on the Spartans' HUDs and the map downloaded.

"So you probably want us on the ground while you are in the air?" Silver wondered.

Fox nodded, "We'll have to wait on our supplies first, I'd rather not go to Kew under supplied."

Silver nodded.

He felt _Great Fox's _momentum shift under foot.

"New course plotted," Krystal reported, "On route with Supply Depot Romeo 2-5,"

"Copy that," Fox replied then turned to face the Spartans, "Why don't you head down and get some rest Sergeant,"

Silver huffed an annoyed breath but he and the Spartans went down to the crew deck.

"That was close." Falco commented.

"What do you mean 'that was close' Falco?" Fox retorted.

"Silver looked like he was five seconds from ripping your head off. Especially now that he knows about our other assignments."

"The General's nice and all but damn his big mouth sometimes."

"Don't worry, if he tried, he'd have to answer to me first." Krystal added from her station though she never looked up from it.

"Good to know I've go some help."

"Ha."

There was silence on the bridge after that.

"You think these guys are as good as they claim?" Marcus said.

"Shadow certainly knows what he's doing." Fox pointed out.

"Well dad he's a Master Sergeant. What do you think of the other two?"

Fox hummed a bit, "I'd wager they're just as good."

"C'mon," Falco boasted, "I could slam that Silver kid into the ground without even trying."

"You said that about Shadow and look what happened there?" Krystal said somewhat laughing it.

"Hey...you know what?"

There was silence for a minute.

"Fuck you." and Falco left the bridge.

Krystal shrugged and Fox didn't seem to think she cared about it too much.

"How close are we?"

"Three minutes," she replied, "You might want to get down there and sign for all of this stuff."

Fox nodded and headed out.

**A/N: Yeah another instance of a whole lot of nothing, but you know what? I'm tired and heading to bed. I may not have another chapter up for a while but who knows. Keep it real guys.**


	7. Section 3 Chapter 7

**The Escort Section 3 Ch 7**

**The Aparoid Remnants**

(Planet Kew, Lylatian outer rim. Local slum "Twin Forks Favela" March 14, 2554, 0322 hours (Zulu time) OPERATION EXTERMINATE)

"Spartans are on the ground," Shadow whispered via comns. It was the middle of the night, a huge full moon hung overhead giving whatever light it could. Shadow didn't like it; it messed with his night vision. It was cold out too, and the frigid air would've given him chills had he not experienced the poles of Harvest when he was younger. They'd gone ground side to Kew earlier that day and were already the talk of the town nearby. The Star Fox team had done a good job covering them up. Mostly, they were told the Spartans were just regular Lylatians out testing a new set of power armor the military was testing, but the stories varied depending on who their escort was. For the most part, it was Marcus. As the day seemed to slowly drag itself out, Shadow had done some recon with Fox and Krystal to get a feel of the infected area, they examined choke points and easy places for ambushes. Strangely as Fox had pointed out at the time, was that according to the locals the bugs were only active at night. That discovery is why they were out when they were. Silver had been sleeping a lot since this voyage had gotten underway; now he felt jumpy. He, as well as most of the Spartans in general, never had this much energy and it made the NCO uncomfortable. Zero wasn't much different; the mind numbness of lack of sleep led to them always being on their toes. Now they felt as though they couldn't think straight. Shadow wouldn't allow it. They had to do this.

"Gear up guys, let's go." he snapped.

The Spartans had attached suppressors to their rifles, this would keep anyone from really hearing the operation when it started.

"Spartans," Fox's voice said over their comns, "This operation is going to be like invading a bee hive. Be careful down there."

"Rodger that, Fox," Shadow said.

"We'll have this hive dealt with before the sun comes up. Just watch," Silver boasted.

Shadow motioned his team ahead into the Favela. The Spartans moved in their signature half circle "Kill" formation. The streets in this villa were wide enough to let them slip from shadow to shadow without a lot of movement. Silver watched his HUD for movement, their targets had already been marked thanks to Shadow Fox and Krystal earlier that morning. He'd gone over in his head what all the Aparoids could do. According to Krystal, they had infantry in the form of indoctrinated organics and lightly armored crawlers that look a lot like triple limbed oversized ants. In armor, they ranged from tread wielding tank like creatures with small plasma machine guns and up to almost Scarab-like tanks that carried some heavier guns. In the air support category, they had the classics, being fighters interceptors and bombers as well as guided munitions. The Spartans had all made careful note of this little piece of info and made preparations for anti-air defenses. That would explain the reason a soldier who tried being stealthy was carrying an M19-B SAM launcher on his back. Shadow didn't mess around, he himself had the M41 SSM launcher in case things got really bad. The three of them all had an additional upgrade to their motion trackers curtsey of Fox and his team that could immediately identify a friendly versus an enemy. Friendly's showed up in the form of a triangle which could be customized to help with recognition and enemies in the form of a yellow dot. The only thing that it didn't do was tell you the size of the target. That was where their old motion tracker came in; using it combine with the Lylatian radar would allow them to ID not only friend or foe, but also how big the target was. Even with all these benefits, though, the trio of Spartans preferred the use of their eyes versus relying on their motion tracker to be their eyes.

"Machines break; eyes don't," Commander Ambrose would tell them.

Zero was at the point of their formation while Silver and Shadow had him flanked from either side, their eyes watched rooftops and windows for any possible contacts. It was dead quiet in the middle of this calm night. Things seemed to be going too easy for the Spartans, and Silver saw that as a problem. If this hive was active at night only, then where the hell were they all? The point man's light flashed amber and Zero stopped. Silver and Shadow stopped almost immediately after.

"No contacts..." Silver said, though he made sure to check all around them.

"Motion trackers to 150 meters, twelve o clock." Zero reported pointing.

Silver squinted trying to see but he couldn't see much in the dark, despite the augments to his and all other Spartans' eyes. On his motion tracker he spotted a few yellow dots, they were very small though so he assumed small targets...for now. It wasn't much later that those few became ten. Then twenty and forty and so on.

"I think our new "upgrades" are going screwy." Zero said, "I'm reading nearly two hundred contacts under foot."

"Ditto." Shadow said.

"Anybody know how fast Aparoids multiply?"

They all dropped into a crouch at the sudden roaring and leveled their weapons. When the roaring faded into the distance, no one moved. The Spartans rifles were trained in three different directions but they didn't move. It was Zero that broke the silence.

"What the hell was that...?" he asked.

"I don't know," Silver replied then smirked, "I say we go find out."

"Split up." Shadow said, "Divide and Conquer, regroup here at 0400."

The two remaining Spartans flash their lights blue and split off in different directions. Silver engaged his camouflage and jumped up onto a higher building with a single leap. Metal rang out under his boots in spite of him using his telekinetic abilities to soften his landing. He froze; that rattling could've given away his position despite the camouflage system. He waited.

Nothing moved.

The NCO dropped into a crouch, sighting down his BR55HB's scope checking for targets. According to the tracker, he should be right on top of his target. He doubted it though seeing as it registered that nearly forty enemies were beneath his feet. He switched to thermal optics. Doing so was probably the worst thing he could've done. It was in that moment he realized his motion tracker wasn't messed up. The white heat that the thermal imaging was supposed to detect nearly blinded him. Every building seemed like it was filled to the brim with enemies.

His eyes widened a bit at this realization and he keyed the comns, "Um...guys...we've got a problem."

"What's the situation Silv?" Zero asked.

"Check the buildings under thermal." he said.

He watched the BIOMETER suddenly spike for both Shadow and Zero.

"So our motion tracker isn't messed up is it?"

"Apparently not." Shadow said, "Let's hit the targets fast, or we'll be swimming in Aparoids."

"Rodger that."

The channel shut and Silver felt his foot hold shift suddenly. He jumped down as the building he'd been standing on seemingly gave birth to mechanical monsters. Silver jerked his rifle up and started firing. All he could hear was the suppressed popping of his weapon as he picked off one after another. One landed in front of him and reared up right as his mag ran dry. The Spartan dove aside. This creature was as tall as he was, it was armor plated with angular purple and blue plates that almost reminded him of Elite armor. It was a single point like a spear tip as its nose. A single red eye seemed to glare at him as it prepared to rush like a bull again. Silver fumbled his magazine and it rushed him. He braced. He managed to catch the spear tip but it shoved him back into a building which crumbled in on itself as he hit it. His shield alarm blared, the hit had cost him almost all of his shield. The spear tip snapped on contact with his chest plate. He shoved it back practically throwing it a good meter from him. The alarm died down as the shield began to recharge. The Spartan pulled himself from the rubble and stood ready to fight. He'd lost his rifle when the thing charged him. It was now lying on the ground behind his enemy, who was more than ready for more. That's where a little Spartan skill came in. Silver ran his hand over the hip slot on his right side. The plate opened up and rewarded him with a side arm: the M6C SOCOM magnum. The beast reared up to charge and Silver was ready this time. He fired three rounds into the thing's stomach; oil looking coolant exploded from the wounds but nevertheless it dropped down and charged him. Silver fired a forth round and caught it in the eye. The thing slumped down and skip to a halt three inches or so from him. He reloaded the pistol and quickly sprinted to and retrieved his rifle. His helmet was a little cracked but otherwise fine as was the rest of his armor. He found it somewhat odd that the Aparoid knew where to charge when it fought him, even though his camouflage system was engaged. He stowed his questions when a group of five more landed nearby surrounding him. He cursed and started shooting, catching one in the eye immediately dropping it and ripping another on practically in half before he was forced to move or get speared. He jumped up as the remaining three smashed into each other. Two of them impaled each other on the ends of their spear-like noses and the last one Silver shot three times with his rifle before it dropped. The NCO ran into the building where that swarm had burst from and spotted his target. A "hatcher" as the Star Fox team had dubbed it. It was a somewhat circular disk emitting a bright yellow field around a small area of ground. Three angular yellow and green legs held it clamped to the ground. It glowed brighter and suddenly Silver saw another one of the Aparoids that he'd face earlier appeared out of seemingly no where. He quickly shot it before it could take three steps. He then turned his rifle on the hatcher and let loose the rest of his magazine. He saw blood and oil flash up from it before it slumped over in a pool of gore. The NCO moved back outside and headed out along the make shift street towards his next target.

(Meanwhile)

At the rate things were going, Zero would run out of bullets before he even got to his target. He'd already hit problems with the first hatcher he'd found, having elected to use a frag grenade rather than his rifle to take it out. What else could he have done though? The roof he found the damned thing in was crawling with Aparoids and the grenade was more than enough to take them and the hatcher out. But that also raised problems. He guessed the sound from his grenade had attracted the bugs to him. Now here he was fighting off a hoard of them.

"Back off!" he snapped letting loose the rest of his magazine. He dropped the mag and slapped in a fresh one. The Aparoids didn't let up. Zero had already gone at it with a light tank and even had to use one of his SAM rockets against a bomber that started to drop its ordnance. _So much for stealth..._

He slammed the rifle into a charging Aparoids eye and lifted it up using it as a sort of shield for the light tanks machine guns. His shields complained as they tried recharging. He fell back only to find that his back was against the wall.

"This isn't looking good..." he muttered to himself.

He knew what he could've done at this point but it would compromise all of them. The Aparoid hoard seemed like a rampaging hydra to him. Everytime he killed on, two more took its place. A charger speared through it's ally impaled on the end of his rifle and ripped it sideways. Zero lost his rifle in the skirmish. Another charger caught him in the stomach and slammed him into the wall of solid dirt behind him. Then a third followed suit and nicked him in the side. His shields were gone. One more shot and he was done for. He glared defiantly at the hoard that had him surrounded. He then smirked, even in the face of Death, Spartans still came out on top. He sighed.

"Sorry dad. I have to do this." he muttered.

The area around his armor flared up in a huge almost fire. It didn't do much but toss the Aparoids that had him pinned off of him. He extended a hand.

"Chaos Spear!" he grunted loosing a blast of white light towards the growing mob. It detonated and sent the hoard scattering into pieces. He let loose another and a third blasting even more bugs into oblivion. He laughed a little then the aura died away leaving Zero in an empty clearing. He recovered his weapon and sighed. The suppressor had snapped off the barrel. He slung it, telling himself he'd only use it if he absolutely had to; stealth was still top priority. He drew his side arm and moved on to his next target. The house two hundred meters ahead was where his motion tracker had the target pinned. He moved in and shot it with his pistol until it slumped over. He slapped in a new mag for the pistol and moved out. He glanced at his watch on his wrist: it was 0355 Zulu time. He had five minutes to kill. He started to head back to the spot where they'd planned on meeting up. It wasn't until he heard a really loud gun shot that he stopped.

"The hell...?"

The fire came in rapidly. That wasn't a civilian firing their guns for shits and giggles. He kept himself calm and on task. Silver could handle himself.

(Meanwhile)

"Back off!" Silver grunted, he'd run out of bullets for his BR a while ago and was now slapping a mag into his SOCOM trying to get these Aparoids off of him. It was about then that a larger piece of armor engaged him. He couldn't kill it with his pistol he knew that. This prompted his next move. He ran down an ally and slid to a stop at the dead end. He waited for the scarab looking thing to come crawling after him. With it came the rest of the swarm. He pulled a grenade from his belt and smirked.

"Say hi to Satan for me!" he said after priming it, dropping it and kicking it so that it started rolling. He then curled up and locked the plates of his armor. All of the power he could spare to nonessential systems, he diverted to his shield to over charge them. This would keep him safe for when that grenade went off. And sure as the sun would be rising in a couple hours, the grenade detonated and the Aparoids scattered. Silver uncurled from his position and shot whatever Aparoids were still alive. The scarab was in a thousand pieces, he guess his grenade had rolled underneath it before exploding. He then headed back to the ally where the hatcher that spawned the damned thing was. He rewarded the hatcher that had nearly gotten him killed with a pack of C-12 explosives. He set the charge and walked out of the ally and thumbed the detonator as he did. A ball of fire shot out of the ally as the plastic explosives took out the hatcher. His targets were done for and he was now heading back. He arrived at 0358, already seeing that Zero was there as calm and collected as ever.

"Got any extra suppressors?" he asked.

Zero shook his head, "If it helps they got mine too."

"Where's Shadow?"

Zero shrugged, "HUD puts him over there." (he pointed to where Shadow's IFF was hovering.) "I wouldn't put it passed him to be having fun killing these damned bugs."

"He better be careful he doesn't get overrun."

Zero nodded and they waited.


End file.
